MiR-6839-5p inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion; a possible correlation with the suppressing VEGFA expression in human chondrosarcoma cells.

MicroRNAs play an important role in the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of malignancy. In previous studies (detailed in our previous paper), the expression of miR-6839-5p was significantly increased in SW1353 cells after I seed 6 Gy irradiation, which indicated miR-6839-5p may play a tumor suppression function in chondrosarcoma cells. This study aimed to identify the effects of miR-6839-5p on the human chondrosarcoma cells, and investigate the potential target genes of miR-6839-5p. Firstly, chondrosarcoma cells (SW1353 and CAL78) were transfected with hsa-miR-6839-5p specific mimic. Secondly, Cell viability assay (MTT assay), Colony formation assay, Wound healing assay, Transwell assay, TUNEL staining and Western blotting experiments were performed, and the results proved miR-6839-5p can inhibit chondrosarcoma cells proliferation, migration and invasion. Meanwhile, miR-6839-5p significantly down-regulated apoptosis facilitator Bcl-2 expression, and promoted apoptosis of chondrosarcoma cells. It is reasonable to speculate miR-6839-5p might downregulate Bcl-2 expression to induce apoptosis in SW1353 human chondrosarcoma cells. Lastly, RNA extraction and bioinformatic analysis was performed on SW1353 cells transfected with hsa-miR-6839-5p specific mimic to investigate the potential target genes of miR-6839-5p. A total of 253 differentially expressed mRNA genes (105 up-regulated genes and 148 down-regulated genes) were found, and 23 differentially expressed downregulated genes were identified. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was conducted to validate the results, which demonstrated the expression of BST2, VEGFA, FPR3 and PPARA was significantly downregulated by miR-6839-5p mimic. Furthermore, miR-6839-5p inhibitor can restore or partially restore the expression value of the above four genes. The analysis results of miRNA target gene prediction database indicated VEGFA was the most likely direct target gene of miR-6839-5p.